Fans of pioneering online sports writer/pop-culture critic Bill Simmons have been bugging the ESPN.com columnist to join the increasing number of journalists tweeting on Twitter. His thoughtful response:

...Twitter and Facebook reflect where our writing is going thanks to the Internet. In 15 years, writing went from "reflecting on what happened and putting together some coherent thoughts" to "reflecting on what happened as quickly as possible" to "reflecting on what's happening as it's happening" to "here are my half-baked thoughts about absolutely anything and I'm not even going to attempt to entertain you," or as I like to call it, Twitter/Facebook Syndrome.

I've long maintained that social media enthusiasts who claim Twitter and Facebook are communication devices for networking and sharing are off base. The driving force behind Web 2.0 is exhibitionism and expression. This is particularly evident if you take a look at Facebook’s application directory sorted by “Most Active Users:”

• Super Wall - The best way to find and share entertaining videos, pictures, graffiti, and more with your friends!
• Causes - Make a difference, on Facebook!
• Top Friends - Own your profile with Top Friends! Now you can CUSTOMIZE your Top Friends Profile! Choose your skin, add music and more. Give and receive exclusive awards, show off your mood and keep tabs on the people you really care about with Top Friends News!

Each app allows the user to essentially shout out to other users, “HERE I AM, I AM WRITING ON YOUR PROFILE WALL, I AM CONCERNED ABOUT THESE THINGS, I AM BEST FRIENDS WITH ALL THESE WONDERFULY ATTRACTIVE HIPSTERS!”

It is the exhibitionist quality of Twitter is what makes it a success with users (though not a money maker, as I may have mentioned), because everyone tweeting wants to be heard -- or read. Unfortunately, as Bill Simmons observes, many of them have nothing interesting to say.

For proof, check out Twit or Not, an addictive take on the infamous Hot or Not which allows users to vote which tweets are the most boring. Go ahead and kill a couple hours. I just did.

Hey Gurus!

LifeTips is making the final adjustments to our platform with Chitika, an online advertising network that’s going to support the ad revenue of your niche at LifeTips. You’ll be able to have an account directly through Chitika, monitor site traffic and get payment through them. In the coming weeks we plan to schedule a training call to help sign you up and understand how to manage your account. Stay tuned …

Do you know any college kids or recent college grads in the Boston area looking to get their career going? Right now we are looking for a part-time editorial intern for spring/summer 2009. Duties include assisting a team of three editors and SEO specialists in 

•  Revising tips, articles and web content
• CMS production
•  Performing keyword research
• Helping us expand our database of freelance writers
•  Editing books

The right candidate will edit professional freelancers and experts, create engaging web content and be a contributing member of a tight-knit team. He/she will be a part of a an exciting, fast-paced and growing dot-com environment and learn from professionals on the cutting edge of organic search engine optimization.

We are looking for someone who is enthusiastic and self-motivated, has some knowledge of the web, superb writing and editing abilities and impeccable grammar and punctuation. Who should apply? Those with the desire to learn, work hard and be a contributing member of our team.

Qualifications:        

• Junior, senior, grad student or recent graduate with a major in Journalism or Communications
• Able to dedicate 20-30 hours a week
• Eye for detail and accuracy
• Impeccable grammar, punctuation and editing skills
• The ability to multitask and meet tight deadlines
•  Strong organizational skills
• Able to successfully juggle multiple projects and prioritize tasks

This position offers internship/co-op credit as well as real-world work experience that builds a resume. Please email resume and cover letter to me.

Every day, LifeTips receives dozens of applications from writers wanting to become Gurus.  We get so many it’s hard to keep all you talented professionals straight. My advice for those eager to get started on paid projects is to apply to become a writer at WriterAccess.com. We will review and approve your application within 48 hours, and then you can check the job board and start applying to projects ASAP.

A few of the jobs available right now include:

·         200 tips on early childhood learning

·         70 tips on pain relief

·         Dermatology and facial care tips and articles

·         Clinical job placement tips

·         IT jobs and career advice tips

·         Sunglasses tips

Make sure that when you apply for a job you make a good argument for why we should pick you. “My mother has a cat and therefore I can write really good cat-care tips” is not good enough. We need to see that you have professional experience in a particular field or industry, that you have freelance writing experience and that you have published material online in related subjects. Send us links to your work. And please, please, please be sure to proofread your job pitch because any typo here is a red flag that your copy is not consistently clean. Typos, grammatical mistakes and awkward phrasing make our job as editors harder. Show us some love and we’ll show it right back with fat paychecks.

Are you the parent of a young child, tween or teenager? Do you know how to throw raging birthday parties that become playground lore and elevate your kid to mythical legend? I’m talking clowns, ponies, magicians, trapeze artists, blow-up castles, cotton candy, Ferris wheels, Hannah Montana performing live…

Okay, you may not be able to get Miley to cameo your kid’s birthday fete, but you sure know where to get the Hannah Montana swag and how to stylize your house into a birthday concert worthy of the stars. If you think you could be the Jeopardy champ of all things Disney princesses, fairies, wizards, Spiderman, Transformers, GI Joe … and you can interpret this knowledge into ideas for birthday parties in a well-written and articulate manner … I have a great opportunity for you.

I’ll be assigning seventy-eight 500-word articles in the next week—all on the subject of birthday party themes—for one of the biggest retail websites in the WWW. Shoot me an email if you’re interested, and don’t forget to recap the most bodacious bash you’ve ever bestowed on your little prince or princess.

Do you know anything about staffing? That’s kind of a vague question, so let me be more specific: Do you know anything about staffing in the IT, Engineering, Accounting & Finance, International HR, Nursing, Physician, Clinical or Legal fields? We just landed a big client and will be churning out 2,250 tips in the next four weeks. That’s 337,500 words!

We can’t do this without writers, of course. So log onto your job board and apply to these projects ASAP … or just contact me at Carolyn@LifeTips.com.

Site Gurus know they don’t get paid for managing their tip site at LifeTips. Instead of money, they get an online platform where they can share their knowledge, writing style and personality with the world—clients and potential employers in particular. Gurus get thousands of unique monthly online visitors hooked on their opinion, expertise and commentary. They manage a community of readers, mediate comments and become the epicenter for an ongoing conversation. And LifeTips is there to support them with the technology and supervision to do so. 

Some of our tip sites are sponsored by clients. In this circumstance, we are able to pay the Site Guru a flat fee for a bulk amount of tips and blog posts. Not a bad deal, right? The only downside is that Gurus whose sites aren’t sponsored sometimes feel slighted. 

If you’re one of these people, keep your chin up. While your niche may not be sponsored right now, your ability to manage, promote and drive traffic to your site looks great to potential clients, who may be wooed some time down the road to sponsor your niche. Link those tips, post links back to your site on your personal blog and online forums and keep pumping out great content. Even though it may not be cash in your hand right now, it could pay off in the long run. Your Tip Site is just one more way to add credibility to your name and get your mug out to the masses.

"We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives." - The Amazing Criswell

By far, my favorite example of "go-to" journalism is the prediction piece (narrowly edging out the Thanksgiving-themed "Turkeys of the Year" and its cousin, the Yuletide "Naughty/Nice" list). At the end of every calendar year, journalists and commentators of various industries bang out 500 words of both bold and vague prophecies, all to inform the reader of the things to come in the new year.

BusinessWeek's Media Predictions for 2009 was the first such piece to catch my eye this year, and I'd like to share some of media critic Jon Fine's feckless forecasts.

Regarding media ad spending: It gets much worse before it gets better.
Regarding media ownership: Media ownership consolidates.
Regarding online advertising: Online advertising demonstrates it isn't immune to gravity.

And some of his gutsy guesses:

Radio rolls out a sort of hipster-lite format aimed at urban thirty- and forty-somethings consumed by jobs and parenting. It draws surprisingly good ratings in a few markets. (JC- Huh?)
New York Times Co. sells About.com to buy time for its flagship paper. (JC- Gawker spread that rumor around last month.)

Of course, Mr. Fine has probably forgotten more about media than I have ever known, so I am in no position to criticize. But, he was the man who claimed in his 2008 prediction column that "Amazon's Kindle e-book reader is stillborn."

Allow me debunk with a quote directly from Amazon's Kindle order page:

Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is sold out. Please ORDER KINDLE NOW to reserve your place in line. We prioritize orders on a first come, first served basis. This item will arrive after December 24. Note that Kindles cannot currently be sold or shipped to customers living outside of the U.S.

Not to be outdone, another BusinessWeek writer opined two years ago in Seven Internet Prediction for 2007, "Facebook's efforts to expand beyond students and recent graduates will be largely unsuccessful. Moreover, the company won't sell itself to a large Internet company, especially if its asking price is $8 billion or more."

Just for the record, Facebook has more than 100 million active users, and as I stated in a previous blog post: judging by Microsoft's $240 million Facebook investment, Facebook is valued at about $15 billion.

All of this is to suggest that BusinessWeek an Criswell are in the same business. In Tim Burton's Ed Wood, Criswell claims, "If you look good, and you talk well, people will swallow anything."

So, you wrote a 101-tip book with LifeTips and now you want to get paid. Here’s how our payment process works:

·         Once your book is on Amazon.com and LifeTips.com and available for purchase at Barnes & Noble and Borders, every time someone orders your book you make $2 on the $9.99 retail sale. Royalty checks are sent out quarterly.

·         When authors order books through their editor, they get a $3 discount per book. When you sell these books for their $9.99 retail value, you make your $3 per-book profit.

·         If you are an aggressive marketer—our favorite kind of author—and you get a group or corporation to order a large quantity of books, you have the opportunity to earn even more money per book. The specific amount would depend on the size of the order. Ask your editor if this occasion arises.

If you haven’t published a book with LifeTips yet, here’s some advice. Gurus should not only offer us a detailed outline of their book, they should also give us a detailed outline of their book marketing plan. LifeTips does not have a marketing or PR department for the book division, thus we ask our authors to take the initiative and submit their book to local retailers and literary competitions, as well as coordinate author readings and book signings at local libraries and cafes. We have had several extremely successful books, and the common thread was the authors’ knack to get their book out in the public eye.